Horological Meandering

Bill1
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Price increases for 2008?

I agree with my good friend, Dominic, that it is refreshing to see someone at least mention the extraordinary price increases foisted on the watch buying public in 2008.  While any discussion of prices is severely limited by Purist's own restrictions, I'll do my best to respect them.  

There's a big difference between a collector and an enthusiast.  I'm first and foremost an enthusiast with respect to watches, not a collector.  I collect, among other things, original comic book art, vintage record (vinyl) albums, and presentation art knives.  The difference most relevant to this conversation has to do with future value.  Retail prices almost never drive my acquisition of art, knives, or vinyl.  That's because without exception my collectibles have increased in value over a reasonable amount of time.   Indeed, the current values of my art, knife, and vinyl collections have so far exceeded what I originally spent, I'm almost at a loss for words. 

Not so with my watches.  I buy watches primarily for their artistic and technical appeal.  I just love looking at them, wearing them, and discussing them.  But, let's face it, every single one of my watches probably lost between 25% and 50% of their retail value the moment I walked out of the store.  For many real collectors of watches, in contrast, I expect the opposite is true:  like my art, knife, and vinyl collections, their timepieces are now actually worth more than what they originally paid for them. 

If most watch buying aficionados are more like "enthusiast" Bill and less like "collector" Bill, than these whopping price increases should have an immediate, and even dramatic, impact on what we buy and how much we spend.   We know these watches (most of them, anyway) will lose value quickly, some precipitously.  If it was difficult to sell a used timepiece in the secondary market before, just imagine how much more difficult it will be if sellers start factoring in double digit price increases.   Will we now be willing to buy a pre-owned watch for the same amount as last year's brand-spanking new-in-the-box version?  I suspect not.

I was just reading elsewhere on the Purist forum about one watch manufacturer that unilaterally increased their entire model product line by 25%.  25%!  There is no reasonable justification for an across-the-board price increase of this magnitude, except for greed and/or incompetence.  I was interested in this brand.  I was hoping to pick something up a specific model this year.  No longer.  Personally, I think the manufacturers are playing with fire.  Every enthusiast, except for the most well-heeled among us, will be effected.  2008 will be - and here's my prediction - the first year in a long time to experience a downturn.  At least in the US market, which is either the first or second largest in the world.  I know I'll be buying less.  I wonder how many other enthusiasts think similarly?

A long rant, and thanks for listening if you made it this far...

bill

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